Multiple-speed transmission mechanism



June 24, 1930{ H. cs. ALTVATER 1,767,909

' v MULTIPLE SPEED TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Original Fil ed Nov.'2, 19,23 4 SheetsSheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS June24, 1930. g, ALTVATER 1,767,909-

MULTIPLE SPEED I RANSMISSION MECHANISM Original Filed Nov. 2, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 M 5% 2s a w Q 6 7 v v" WITNESSES I 7.1NVENTOR Her3e1ZiZZZer 'BY I ATTORNEYS June 24, 1930. s. ALTVATER I MULTIPLE SPEED TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Original FilecLNov. 2, 1923 4 -Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEYS n 1930. H. 4;. ALTVATER v ,7 7

MULTIPLE SPEED TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Original Filed Nov. 2, 1923 4 SheetsSheet 4 JI J4 I if '1? v a I INVENTOR A'rroliNavs Patented June .24, "1 950 UNITED ST HERBERT GEORGE aL'rvA'rEn, or chair, INDIANA MULTIPLE-SPEED TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Qriginal application filed-lt'oven ber 2, 1923,-Seria1 No.672,136. Divided and this. application. filed Novembe 0, 192

The present application is. a divisionof 7 United States application filed by me November 2, 1923', Serial Number 672,436, which matured into Patent Number 1,616,- 342, which priorapplication, in common with the present application relatesto a multiple speed transmission gearing and particularly to a. gearing in which conjugate'couples ofdrive and driven elements 10 'are'established alternately with non-conjugate adjustments'insuch a manner that a shift from one conjugate couple to another conjugate couple for turning the driven shaft at a given speed isalternate with an intermediate adjustment .to-a non-conjugate relation of the drive and driven elements,

whereby a driveelement may be continuously rotated with the drive shaft while the driven element may or maynot actuate the coaxial driven shaft according to the conjugate or non-conjugate relation of the drive and driven elements established by the intermediate gears and a shiftable clutch as selnblage.

lates to clutch means for the gearing elements including a shiftable carrier composed of sections which aresleeved on the drive and driven shafts.

Ihe nature of the present invention. and its distinguishing features and advantages will clearly appear from the following description and the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompany-' ing drawings forming a part of this specification, it being understood that the drawings are merely illustrative of one example of the invention. v

Figure l is a plan view of a variable transmission mechanism embodying my present invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section as indicated by theline 2-2, Figure 1;

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are transverse vertical cated by the lines 3-3, 44 and 5 -5, Figure 2; v

Figure 6 is an inverted plan view-of the gearing;

Particularly the present application resections taken respectively in planes indi er NQ- 4:9,69

.Figure7 is a schematic view of. the inter- I mediate'gearing assemblage.

I The following. described gearing assemblage is comprised in the invention of my aforenamed application: In the illustrated example of my invention the numeral 10 may be taken as indicating a' drive shaft, and 11 a driven shaft in axial'aline'ment therewith. Drive elements are associated with thedriven shaft and actuated through the medium of, an intervening. optionally the drive and driven elements. .Memberslli' and 15 are supported by frame member I3. Thelower side'of member 1 5 has' 'fivejoun' 'nals to support short shafts Where required as indicated by shafts 1, 2, Figure 3,..aild hereinafter referred to. The numeral .12.. indicates. a .member with. half fjournal'sgfor holding. shafts 1 tot where-required. I

It will be useful hereto l briefiy refer generally to the driveand. driven elements,

here shown as gears,as well as to a shiftable,

clutch associatedv withsaid ,drive ,andjrdriven elements andto aninterrnediate gear train. Thus, coaxial with the driveshaft 10 and driven shaft 11. are a series .of. elements adapted to constitute drive .and driven elee mentsand filler ,or spacing elements parts of an interior cylindrical'surfaee with the drive and driven elements. A slidflble clutch device :is ,shiftable alongj lthefldrive.

and driven shaft and turnable therewith and disposed within thev driveand driven elements and filler elements, and has meansas explained in detail hereinafter, to engage. an

element to be turned with the drive shaft as well as means to engage a second element to be driven for turning the driven shaft or for idling, A train of intermediate gears .is

provided, so that one of the elements coaxial with the dri ve and 11. V I ;,$h@ft will b riv r m the driv sh f by t eeti nof loo 7 nal cylindrical diameter as the drive anddriven elements and is mounted similarly tothem; and it has a length sufhcient to enable it to be grasped simultaneously by both the slidable clutch device attached to the drive shaft and the slidable clutch deletters A to V.

vice attached to thedriven shaft... This di rect drive element thus constitutes a rigid connection or splice between the driving shaft andthe driven shaft whereby when desired they can be made to rotate together as a single unit at the same rate of sneed. For the convenience of description I will designate the drive'and driven gear elements and the interposed filler elements by letters in the order in which said elements are arranged. Thus, from left to right, referring to Figure 6, the spaces between thebearing members12 are designated by the capital Certain non-dr1v1ng elements are employed in my novel'assemblage,

and so coordinated with the drive anddriven elements of the assemblage that compactness results While making provision for a large number of gear shifts22 1n the illustrated example as will appear. The nondriving elements functioning purely as spacing or filler elements in association with the novelarrangement of drive and driven gear elements are lettered b, m, p and u and they form with the drive and driven elements a series of elements bearing the consecutive letters a to '1; reading from left to right, Figure 6;"The spaces lettered A to V receive the drive and driven gear elements 7 and the filler elements, all coaxial with the drive shaft 10 and, driven shaft 11. The intermediate train of gears is mostly made up of conjugate couples mounted on short shafts designated 1, 2, 3, 4: and 5. In the diagram, of the intermediate gearing, Figure 7, I have designated the axes of thevarious groupsof the intermediate, gears by the numerals 1 to 5 because corresponding With and representingthe short shafts i,'2,

3, 4, 5. In Figure 7, which gives a schematic View of the intermedlate gearlng 1n the in terest of clearness, the axes are designated in the order 1' to 5. Those shafts along the axis 1,'I have designated as 1, 1 1 and 1;

, those shafts disposed along the axis 2, I have designatedas 2, 2 2 2 and 2 those shafts along the axis 3, I have designated as 3 and 3*; those'shafts along the axis 4, I have designated as .4, 45, 4 and 4; and those shafts along the axis 5, I have designated 5 and 5. All of said shafts turn in the gear spacing bearing members 12. The intermediate gears turning about the axes 1, 2,

3, 4, 5, are in planes corresponding with the spaces A to Vbetween the bearing members 12. Said spaces between the bearing members 12 being thus designated respectively by the capital letters A to V in Figure 6, those elements in the intermediate gearing in the diagram, Figure 7, in positions corresponding with said spaces, have been designated by corresponding capital letters A to'V but forming the conjugate or non-conjugate couples are spaced varying distances accordmg to the situations in the assemblage to make for compactness while'attaining the In the intermedi-f maximum number of gear shafts for the given number of gearsand in a given total space. From Figure 7 it will be noted therefore that there is nota uniformity in v the length of those shafts of the intermediate gear along the axes 1, 2, 3, l, 5. For example, four shafts along axes -1, 2, 3, 4: and numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 are of the same length. The shaft adjacent the axis 1,that is, shown near the lower right-hand corner of Figure 7, and numbered 2 is longer while at other parts of the intermediate gear the shafts such as 1, 1 1, 2, 2, 2 are simply of a length to pass through one of the bearing elements 12. The thickened lines in the diagram, Figure 7, along the respective axes 1, 2,3, 4, 5, represent the positions of the short shafts, numbered 1,

2, 3, 4t, 5 inFigure 6, which shafts connect certain elements of the intermediatev gearing incouples. I

I'will now describe the shiftable carrier and coupler assemblage constituting the present invention: A shiftable carrier, (16, I

116) composed of sections, is sleeved on the shafts 1,0, 11 to have longitudinal movement and has a key 17 movable in registering grooves 18 in the drive shaft 10, so that the carrier will rotate with the drive shaft but may be shifted longitudinally along the shafts. The carrier will be hereinafter generally referred to as 16, one of the sections being designated 116in' the interest of clearness; to wit, that section concentric with the driven. shaft 11. A control assemblage 19 is slidably mounted on the driven shaft- 11 and has a key 20 slidable in the groove tween which the ring 21 is disposed so that the shifting of the rod 25 longitudinally will, through the medium of the bolts 26, rollers 27 and ring 21 carry the slide 19 along the driven shaft 11. On the carrier 16 I provide a lever or levers 28 disposed and fulcrumed on a ring 29. Said levers 28 are held against displacement by a nut 30 and lock nut 31 on the carrier 16 which thus serves to carry the levers. Each lever 28 mounts a roller 32 turning on pin 33,

to maintain driving engagement with an element, a, b, 0, etc., I provide a ring 34 embracing the levers and slidable along the same. Said ring 34 is. held in adjusted position by a nut 35 and lock nut 36. Thus, the turning of the drive shaft 10 will cause the turning of the carrier 16 and the levers 28, and by reason of the engagement of the rollers 32 with a particular element a, b, 0,

etc., will cause said selected element to be driven with the drive shaft 10.

I provide a second lever or a set of levers 128 carrying rollers or equivalent clutch means 132 to effect operative engagement with a second one of the elements a, b, 0, etc. The levers 128 are shown fulcrumed on a ring 129 and held against displacement by a ring nut 130 and a lock nut 131. To rock the levers 128 and adjust the same to maintain engagement of the rollers 132 with the selected element 0, (Z, etc., a slide ring 134 embraces said levers and is held in place by a ring nut 135 and lock nut 136.

A coupler assemblage is provided between i the sections of the carrier 16. 1 On the one section 116 is a radial flange 37 and a coupler disk 38 ,is secured to or formed upon the other section of the carrier 16 and terminates in an annular flange 39 concentrio with the axis of the drive and driven shafts 10, 11. The flange 39 has a series of radial bolts 40 carrying rollers 41 atopposite sides of the flange 37'. Thus, a longitudinal movement of the carrier section 116 in re sponsetothe movement of .the shift. rod25 will through the flange 37 ,rollers 41, bolts 40, flange 39, and disk 38, cause a corresponding longitudinal movement of the other section of the carrier 1.6,whereby the levers 28 and 128 will be carried longitudinally to shift the engagement of the rollers 32 and 132 to .selectiv ely engage particular gears a, b,-c, etc. The ring nuts 42,43 are provided on, the sections of thecarrier 16, to position the. described coupler between the carrier sections. Also, spring locking rings 44 are provided adjacent the rings 42,43, be-

tween'thesame and the lock nuts 31 and. 131. longitudinally with the axes of the shafts 3 The description of the gear shifts to effect ferentspeeds, is fully explained in myaforenamed applicationand need not be further 7 referred to here;

I would state furtlierrnore that while the illustrated example constitutes a practical embodiment of my invention, I do not limit myself strictly to the exact details herein illustrated, since, manifestly, the same can be considerably varied without departure from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

,Having thus described my invention, I clalm:

i 1, In a transmission gearing adrive shaft,

a driven shaft, an element adapted to con ,stitute a direct-drive "element, shiftable means to control the drive connection between the drive shaft and .said direct-drive element, and shiftable means to control the drive connectionbetween the said directdrive element 'and the driven shaft,v said shiftable means having rollers mounted on axes transverse to the drive shaft and said rollers engageable by frictional bearin resistance with the peripheral surfaces 0% the said direct-drive element,

2. In a clutch and power control mechanism, a drive shaft, a shiftable carriage mounted on said drive shaft and rotatable with it, levers mounted upon said shiftable carriage, and transverse rollers affixed onto said levers adapted to engage suitable driven elements by frictional bearing resistance and said levers occupying positions approxi- "mately parallel to and about said driving axle, and a ring of metal enclosing the ends of said levers which are opposite to the transverse rollers, which ring of metal exerts a constant pressure on the said levers.

3. In a clutch and-power control mechanism, ,a drive'shaft, a shiftable carriage mounted on said drive shaft and rotatable with it, a series of levers of the first class, driven elements, said levers mounted upon said shiftable carriage, transverserollers aflixed to said levers and adapted to engage the driven elements by frictional bearing resistance, and said levers occupying positions approximately parallel to and about said drivi n shaft, a ring of metal enclosing the ends 0% said levers which are opposite to the transverse rollers which ring of metal exerts a constant pressure on said levers, and

the application of the lever principle to the said transverse rollers whereby the radial pressure on the transverse rollers is increased in the same ratio as the length of the lever arm from the fulcrum to the enclosing ring bears to the length of the lever arm from the fulcrum to the transverse rollers.

4;. In a clutch and power control mechanism for the engagement and disengagement of rotative power, a drive shaft, a shiftable carriage mounted on said drive shaft and rotatable with it, a drive element, transverse rollers, levers on said shiftable carriage,said levers aflixed in position radially, an adjustable ring and a lock nut therefor, whereby said rollers are uninterruptedly held with a constant pressure an invariable fixed distance from the axis of rotation of the shaft.

. 5. In a clutch and power control mechanism for the engagement and disengagement' of rotative power, a drive shaft, a shiftable carriage mounted on said drive shaft and rotatable with it, levers on said drive shaft, transverse rollers mounted on said levers, a series of drive elements of practically constant interior diameters arranged contiguous to each other to provide uninterrupted frictional line engagement between each transverse roller and'each ele-' ment in SUCCGSSIOII' as the shiftable carriage is moved through the elements.

HERBERT GEORGE ALTVATER. 

